The article highlights the role of on-the-job training in improving competitiveness of the country and creating a knowledge economy. The article presents comparative analysis of the advantages and ...disadvantages of competence-oriented training, and substantiates the value of organizational knowledge system in improving the quality of this type of training of industrial employees. In the study, special attention is paid to forms, such as the onthe-job training and competence-oriented training. The article analyzes approaches of scientists to the issue concerning on-the-job production staff training as an effective alternative to traditional forms of professional development of human resources, as well as reveals the peculiarities and essential conditions to the acquisition by employees of professional knowledge and skills. The authors characterize the forms and methods of on-the-job training, which are common in Japanese companies. It is shown that on-the-job training is becoming one of the most effective forms of professional development of corporate employees. This fact gives grounds to conclude that formal training is not the only source and means of human resource development.
The increasing pressure of globalisation on the worldwide market has forced enterprises to shift their focus from product quality to effectiveness of internal business processes. The object of ...interest of this paper is a modern management approach based on corporate performance evaluation by measuring the performance of internal processes. The paper aims to prove that the use of modern indicators and the measurement of internal processes belong among factors that have a direct positive impact on corporate performance. To reach the aim, empirical primary research was carried out. The paper focused on research results regarding the use of modern indicators for the measurement of business processes in Slovak industrial enterprises from selected branches. The primary quantitative research was conducted using questionnaires. The research aimed to test the hypothesis stating that enterprises using modern indicators to measure process performance have been reaching more positive ROE values, representing a basic indicator of corporate performance. Dependences among the data selected from the empirical research were analysed using statistical methods, namely, the chi-squared test, T-test and the correlation analysis. Based on the statistically processed data, the authors concluded that business processes are a basic source for the evaluation of corporate performance. Higher ROE values can be reached using modern process indicators, especially in mass production enterprises. The paper contributed to the further development of knowledge in performance management, specifically, process-oriented management.
Over the last few decades, the changing nature of global production and distribution processes has raised a number of critical questions regarding work and employment relations. Presenting a ...qualitative case study of the football industry in Pakistan as an example of the general mechanism of the social relations of re/production in a global system of industrial organization, this research highlights how and under what conditions informal workers are embedded in extended global production networks. By drawing on the integrated conceptual framework of the global production network (GPN) and labour process theory (LPT), this research sheds light on the working conditions and living realities of informal workers. A potential contribution of this paper is to extend the horizon of production network theory by analysing the work and employment conditions of informal workers, which are absent in existing discussions of these conceptual frameworks.
Policymakers face the challenge of finding a mix of policies that are effective in growing the biofuels industry. We argue that a missing component of biofuel policy is consideration of the risks ...faced by companies in the biofuels industry. The purpose of this paper is to address the research question: What are the most important risks facing companies in the biofuels industry?
We identify 22 risks in our analysis of 652 narrative risk factor descriptions disclosed by 26 publicly traded biofuel companies in the US and Canada. The results show that the most important risks are related to management and management processes, and to market conditions and profitability. Biofuel companies view technological risks, including those related to intellectual property protection, as less significant.
These results suggest that, in order to be responsive to the risks companies face, biofuel policy needs to support the development of managers and management processes; to support market conditions and industry profitability; and to strike an appropriate balance between policy support for technology development and for business development. Further, we suggest a risk informed approach to setting government policy for the biofuels industry may support the industry's development.
•Risk factors disclosed by 26 publicly traded biofuel companies were analyzed.•22 risks were identified and assessed.•Key risks involved management, market conditions and profitability.•A risk focused approach to biofuel policy may support the industry's development.
Compared with the traditional innovation efficiency measured by the DEA model without considering the non-expected output, this study uses the SBM model to measure the green innovation efficiency of ...Chinese industrial enterprises without considering the non-expected output, and analyzes the regional differences of the green innovation efficiency of industrial enterprises in the regions. In addition, the spatial econometric models are used to evaluate the spatial effects of the green innovation efficiency. The results show the traditional innovation efficiencies without considering the undesirable output are higher than the efficiencies considering the undesirable output, but the innovation efficiencies have a large room for improvement in both cases (with and without considering the non-expected output). The efficiency gap among provinces is larger, which presents the rule of diminishing from eastern, central to western, and uses cluster analysis to divide the provinces into three groups according to the efficiency level. There is a spatial effect on the green innovation efficiency of Chinese industrial enterprises. Keywords: Industrial enterprises, green innovation efficiency, cluster analysis, spatial effect
In this paper, we consider an analytical approach to prognose competitiveness of industrial enterprises. Based on the approach, we analysed the competitiveness taking into account several factors: ...energy and transport costs, market capacity of manufactured products by enterprises, etc.
Theoretical advances suggest that international governance in general and the Paris Agreement in particular provide a strong signal guiding sociotechnical systems toward decarbonization. We assess ...this signal and its effects empirically, by examining the struggle of competing narratives as present in the communications of leading US fossil fuel industry associations and companies. The results are then discussed in the context of the national and international climate and energy policy debates in a study period from late 2014 until the announcement of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in June 2017. We find that the Paris Agreement has institutionalized a narrative paradigm that is surprisingly resilient. While the election of Donald Trump and his climate and energy policy led to a narrative shift in the coal industry, the oil and gas industry remained conspicuously silent in its immediate response and maintained its narrative strategies despite its alignment with the Paris Agreement.
The realization of structural changes in high-technology industries requires an evaluation of the effectiveness of taken decisions. For this purpose, the paper considers the technical and economic ...feasibility of developing a system of indicators in industrial management, which will allow increasing the competitiveness of products. A set of indicators was developed, based on the formalization of the main characteristics and interrelation of the organizational structure, and an integral estimation of the organizational potential of high-technology enterprises was proposed. The application of such a technique in practice will give a preliminary conclusion about the nature of structural transformations. In developing the methodology, a criterion is proposed for estimating the competitiveness of a high-technology enterprise, which is based on the ratio of its potentials to actual risks. Structurally functional identification of the potentials of the processes of functional systems made it possible to reveal the features of the application of analytical models for determining the accumulated potentials in the production system. This gives the possibility for segmentation of the enterprise's competitiveness and determination of areas with different efficiency of resource consumption.
The corporate wellness industry is diversifying and now includes legacy wellness companies, divisions of health plans or delivery systems, and new technology-focused solution enterprises. We ...conducted in-depth interviews with leaders in the industry to understand the changes in its supply side, the drivers of these changes, future trends, and their implications for employers and policy makers. Three key trends emerged from the interviews: The industry is expanding and becoming increasingly diverse and competitive; wellness companies are redefining their business models to promote a culture of health; and the value proposition of employee wellness programs is shifting from a return on investment to a new idea: value on investment. Our findings clarify wellness companies' innovations, their contributions to population health improvement efforts, and the need for additional evidence to demonstrate the value of the new generation of wellness products and services.
Despite its good environmental track record, the Finnish forest industry nonetheless causes harmful environmental impacts. This paper studies corporate environmental reports within the Finnish forest ...industry to determine the environmental performance of the industry at large. Fifteen years of environmental reports from the three biggest Finnish forest industry companies are analysed. The majority of these reports focus on inputs needed for production (especially energy) and unwanted outputs (especially air and water emissions) in the industry. The environmental impacts in areas of the industry taking place outside of mills, however, are less often reported and appear to be less important to the companies. This paper makes five contributions to the literature: First, the forest industry's reporting, as a less researched field, is studied in detail. Second, the forest industry's environmental reporting is diverse, comprised of multiple indicators and units of measurement. Third, the energy indicator reporting is both established and diversified. The diversity makes the reports as a weak source of comparison of environmental performance. Fourth, the case companies seldom report the environmental performance of their supply chains. Fifth, while the prior literature has analysed multiple environmental impacts of the forest industry, the case companies report on very few of them. The paper concludes by stating that future environmental reporting should especially address supply chains and multiple environmental impacts caused by the industry.
•Environmental performance indicators of the forest industry are analysed.•The analysed companies use more than 2000 environmental performance indicators.•Majority of indicators address energy, air and water emissions.•Very little is reported about supply chain and caused environmental impacts.•Future reporting should address supply chain and multiple environmental impacts.
PDF
